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Ruth Garrido Vila


Sculpture of Hercules

Roman Empire, End of 2nd century AD

MATERIAL: Marble

DIMENSIONS: Height 175 cm. Base: length 60 cm, width 42 cm and height 9 cm.

OFICIAL DOCUMENTS:

- Export license issued by the Ministry of Culture, Spain.
- Import license issued by the Ministry of Culture, Spain.
- Export license issued by the Arts Council, England. 

PROVENANCE: 
- From the gardens of the country house Letcombe Manor, Wantage, Oxford (United Kingdom), before 1933. 
- Property of The Hon. Eileen Sybil Mary Nelson Hood (1910 - 1936) (sister of the 3rd Viscount Bridport) and of her husband Mr. David Lawrence Baker, eldest son of Charles J. Baker, of Letcombe Manor, Wantage, Oxford (United Kingdom). 
- Rediscovered in 1982 at the bottom of the decorating lake in the grounds of Letcombe Manor, when the waters were being drained. The statue of Hercules was thrown into the lake in 1935 by The Hon. Eileen Hood as she considered it “an offense against public decency”.
- Auctioned at Phillip’s in London to raise funds for the Food and Agricultural Council of Investigation in 1985. The statue featured on the cover of the catalogue.
- Acquired in Phillip’s by the Royal-Athena Galleries, New York.
- Acquired from the Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, by Mr. John Werner Kluge (1914 - 2010).
- Property of Columbia University, to which it was donated by the previous owner.
- Tomasso, Leeds (United Kingdom).  
-  Private Collection,  Madrid, Spain. 
 
PUBLICATIONS AND REFERENCES: 

- Phillips Blenstock House. Sculpture & Works of Art. Tuesday 26 November 1985. London. Lot 101. (ilustrated on the cover of the catalog). 
- In the press; Reading Evening Post, Wednesday 27 November 1985, page 1 and 2.
- In the press; Illustrated London News. Friday 1 November 1985, page 14.
- Country Life, volume 179, p. 127. 1986.
- DAVISON, Steve. Walking in the Thames Valley. Cicerone Press. 2008.

CONDITION: In a good state of preservation.  There are two lines of breakage in the lower are of the left leg below the knee, which have been restored. The left heel has been reconstructed.
 
DESCRIPTION: 

An imposing life-scale sculpture carved from a single block of marble. It is free-standing on all sides. Given its importance as well as its proportions, we can suppose it was placed on a pedestal so that it could be seen from all angles. It would have been meant for a public space or a private garden of considerable size so that it could have been contemplated from a convenient distance.

The monumentality of the piece indicates the importance of the figure represented. There is a clear reference: the lion skin on the column attached to the sculpture (Fig. 1), to give support and solidity to the structure. However, it is the face which leaves as in no doubt that the figure is that of Hercules, the most popular hero in antiquity.

Heracles, as he is known by his Greek name, is the main hero of that mythology. His name is derived from the goddess Hera and from the Greek word “kleos” (glory), that is to say, “the glory of Hera”. He was the son of Zeus and Alcmena, a mortal queen. He was the foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus on his mother’s side. At birth he received the name Alcaeus or Alcides in honour or his grandfather; this name also suggests the idea of strength. When he was an adult, he received the name by which he is known, given to him by Apollo, through the Pythia, to indicate that he was a follower of goddess Hera. In ancient Rome as well as in Western Europe, he is known as Hercules. Some Roman emperors – among them Commodus and Maximian – identify themselves with this figure.

The story of Hercules is that of the civilizing hero who roamed the Mediterranean wiping out all types of dangers. He converted the coasts and Mediterranean islands in tidy and habitable places, so that settlements flourished where residents could put down roots. He was worshipped in Phoenicia by the name of Melqart, which means “Lord of the city”. He was held to be the founding hero of many cities, from Rome (before the arrival of Romulus) to Barcelona (according to one medieval legend). He became the central figure of Greek mythology and was one of the few gods who was equally venerated throughout all Greek territory.

Hercules, as the son of a deity and a mortal, was a semi-god. He thus had a double nature which made him a model characterised by the combination of both virtues and vices. He laboured and struggled in all his adventures using his main attributes: physical strength and ingenuity. But he also demonstrated courage, pride, a certain candour, and formidable sexual vigour. As a hero he owes his glory to his own efforts to conquer virtue. His story symbolises the concept of “Arete”, the effort to achieve excellence in the fulfilment of purpose or one’s mission. He is held to be the ancestor of the kings of Sparta. This is one of the reasons why his cult and the myths around him were so widespread.

 The lion skin here is no other than the Nemean Lion, a powerful animal whose skin he took when he strangled the animal with his bare hands in his first task. From then on, he would wear this skin as a cape and as a sign of his strength and achievements. In sculptural representations, this is his principal and characteristic attribute (Fig. 2).


As a symbol of the Greek soul Heracles was represented in the archaic period overcoming his adversaries with bravery or enjoying a symposium on Olympus. This can be seen in the pottery vases of the time. In the classical period he was represented as a more restrained hero, the ally of the gods who in turn supported him. In the Hellenistic period, fatigue, and the desire for the end of his labours, took the place of violence and self-confidence. The emotional expressionism introduced by Lysippos shows us an exhausted Heracles. The hero, having carried out so many brilliant feats, and having had to bear so many trials during his life, longs for rest. Ironically, his voluminous musculature contrasts with his fatigue and accentuates this. The sculptor probably had in mind his lover, Alexander, a real hero. The model had much impact in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, as can be seen from the numerous copies created for gymnasiums and public baths (Fig. 3).

This sculpture is a clear example of the popularity and the importance which his effigy had in Roman society. It shows the hero standing and completely naked, but in what seems to be a forced pose. Most of the large-scale sculptures found in museums show the god as a young man in a fixed pose, or as an adult of the type described, the Farnese Hercules. Only on a few occasions, apart from the examples during the Renaissance and Baroque periods, is the hero depicted carrying out his labours, fighting against beasts (Fig. 4). This sculpture in question probably belongs to this category, as the twisting of the body backward and to the right leads one to think that he is moving his right arm backwards to gather strength. His left arm in front of the torso helps this motion by giving him balance and acting as a counterweight. He needs this impulse to be able to deliver a blow with his characteristic club, from back and above to the front and lower down, against an enemy. The figure is depicted alone and free-standing, without his enemy or rival. The face shows us a mature hero, but at the same time, one in perfect physical form (Fig. 5).

It is clearly a sculpture meant to be admired. Until the end of Antiquity, the figure of Hercules was a symbol of Imperial power, both political and spiritual, as the weight that he had to bear was similar to that which pagan, and later Christian, leaders also had to bear.

PARALLELS:

Fig.1 Hercules. Marble. Roman Empire. c. 125 AD; height 193.5 cm. From the Villa Adriana, Tivoli. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

Fig.2 Hercules. Marble. Roman Empire, period of Flavia, c. 68 – 98AD; height 238.2 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Inv. 03.12.14. 

Fig.3 Farnese Hercules. Marble. Roman Empire, 3rd century AD. Copy of the original Greek bronze by Lysippos from the 4th century BC. It was found in 1546 in the Baths of Caracalla, Rome (Italy). Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, in Naples. 

Fig.4 Hercules as the slayer of the Lernaean Hydra Roman Empire, 2nd century AD. Found during the reconstruction of the Iglesia de Santa Inés, Rome, the piece received a complete  restoration from the sculptor, Alessandro Algardi (1602 - 1654), which probably transformed the ancient iconography of Hercules taming the Ceryneian Hind into that of Hercules and the Hydra, following models of an original Greek attributed to Lysippos (4th century BC), who, according to sources, sculpted the Labours of Hercules. Musei Capitolini, Rome.

Fig.5 Hercules. Marble. Roman Empire. c. 125 AD. Height 169.5 cm.  From the Roman Forum. North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh.


Notes: 
- The piece includes authenticity certificate.
- The piece includes Spanish Export License.
- The seller guarantees that he acquired this piece according to all national and international laws related to the ownership of cultural property. Provenance statement seen by Catawiki.
#MorganNiquetCollection

End of 2nd century AD

Römisches Reich Marmor Bedeutende lebensgroße Herakles-Statue. 2. Jahrhundert n. Chr. 175 cm H. Historische Provenienz.

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Römisches Reich Marmor Bedeutende lebensgroße Herakles-Statue. 2. Jahrhundert n. Chr. 175 cm H. Historische Provenienz.

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